WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 2/6: Rhodes and Heyman hit, Lashley and Lesnar miss, more

Opening Segment – HIT: This opening segment with Edge and Beth Phoenix being interrupted by The Judgement Day was solid to good, just good enough to get a marginal Hit. That was actually how I felt about a lot of this episode of Raw. Everyone played their parts well enough, and there were some good lines. They got where they needed to get in the end with Finn Balor excepting the challenge for a mixed tag team match at Elimination Chamber where he will team with Rhea Ripley against Edge & Beth. But, they also had some mistakes (Money in the Bank?), and Edge still sounds odd trying to justify creating Judgement Day in the first place. It wasn’t great, but as I said, good enough.

Priest vs. Dawkins – HIT: This was a pretty good match, but not great. Again, it was good enough to get a Hit. Of the two EC qualifying matches, this one had more intrigue because the outcome wasn’t totally expected. I assumed Damian Priest would beat Angelo Dawkins, but I felt there was a decent chance that WWE would put both members of The Street Profits in EC. The later match was very predictable that Montez Ford would beat Elias. The less predictable nature of this match elevated it. The predictable nature of Ford vs. Elias kept it out of the Hit column, but it was ok.

JBL – Corbin Split – HIT: Baron Corbin vs. Dexter Lumis was not a good match. I’m disappointed that they are still having Lumis as part of Johnny Gargano’s act. But, I was happy to see the post-match backstage scene where JBL dropped Corbin. I don’t know what will happen with a new repackage of Corbin. He goes from happy to sad a lot. But, teaming him up with JBL didn’t work. They didn’t have chemistry. I was always annoyed by JBL’s presence during Corbin’s matches. I hope he goes away and they find something good for Corbin.

Lashley – Lesnar – MISS: WWE can’t seem to decide if they want the match ups between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley to be face vs. face, or face vs. heel, and if it is face vs. heel, who plays which role? Going into this week’s show, I though they were angling for Lesnar to be the heel and Lashley the face. They have been teasing a reunion of the Hurt Business which might make Lashley a heel, but he hasn’t agreed to work with MVP, so he is presumably still a babyface. However, in this segment, he came across like the heel, needing a lawyer, manager and agent to look over the contract before signing it. Lesnar was fun. I enjoy seeing him talking this much. Lashley got the better of Lesnar at The Royal Rumble, so Lesnar standing tall here made sense. But, the positioning of Lashley as a heel was jarring after what they’ve been doing with these two since Lesnar returned a few weeks ago.

Carmella vs. Niven vs. Michin vs. LeRae – HIT: Another marginal Hit. This fatal four way got Carmella into the EC to find out who will face Bianca Belair at WM for the Raw Women’s Championship. I thought Piper Niven would win, as a renewed push for her starting at the Rumble could lead her to face Belair at WM. The only likely winner in the match is Asuka. I don’t buy any of the other wrestlers in the match, including Carmella, as legit possible winners, making the outcome very predictable. Niven would have at least had a chance to win in my eyes. But, if you want to keep her strong, having her lose in the EC might not be a good way to go either. Here, at least she didn’t take the pin.

Rick Boogs – MISS: I’m already over this guy. I found his annoying personality at least bearable when he was Shinsuke Nakamura’s guitarist on Smackdown before getting hurt. Now, he’s just annoying as all hell and making me feel sorry for The Miz. I’m not supposed to side with Miz on this one, but I am.

Chelsea Green – HIT: I am getting a kick out of Chelsea Green’s Karen character. She is playing the part very well. Having her face Asuka in her first match on Raw made sense. It was a fine squash for Asuka. They should give Green some wins going forward though, as you don’t want her to just be an annoying loser. She has to be an annoying winner too.

Rhodes – Heyman – HIT: This was a great segment. Clearly, WWE has an issue in making Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns in the main event of WM feel like a big enough deal after the entire Sami Zayn / Bloodline story. I have faith that Zayn vs. Reigns will end up with a pivot towards Zayn & Owens vs. The Usos for WM. But, they have to do a lot of work to make fans happy to see Rhodes vs. Reigns. This was a great first step. Both Rhodes and Paul Heyman performed great here. It was smart to have Rhodes talk up Zayn the way he did. The way they leaned into the long history between Dusty Rhodes, Paul Heyman, Cody and Reigns was great. The line from Heyman claiming that Dusty told him before he died that Roman is the son he wished he had was great. This makes me look forward to the build to WM in a big way.

Bayley vs. Becky – HIT: This match still should have happened two weeks ago when it was first advertised, but at least they delivered a good steel cage match main event here. I was not expecting Lita to show up. I kept thinking someone would come out to even the odds as Iyo Sky & Dakota Kai were interfering from outside of the ring. But who? Lita is an interesting choice. There is no obvious opponent for Becky Lynch at WM. I’ve seen some reports about Kai-En-Sky vs. Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler for the Tag Titles. But, could that turn into a triple threat? Might we get Becky & Lita as a team? It will be interesting to see what happens, but the Becky vs. Bayley feud is played out. They need to either end it, or twist it enough into something new to make it feel fresh.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

CATCH-UP: 2/6 WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW RESULTS: Keller’s report on Bayley vs. Becky Lynch in a cage, Elias vs. Ford in EC Qualifier, Michin vs. Carmella vs. LeRae vs. Niven, Lesnar appears